Niles West held an assembly on Title IX for freshman through juniors on Tuesday, Oct. 24. Freshman and sophomores went to the first a.m. assembly, while the juniors went to the second. For seniors, they met with their counselors during the time the assemblies were being held. The seniors attended the Title 9 assembly two weeks prior.

Title IX is a Federal Civil Rights Law that states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be educated to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

After this quote was shown to the students, it may have been confusing for some. So, school psychologist, Adrian Gancarczyk sums up the law in simpler words.

“The law came out of the Civil Rights Movement and started in the 1970s which was when there was a push for gender equality in sports. The Federal Government put this law into play to improve participation for females in sports and to get scholarships. Down the line, it expanded its reach to protect different groups of people,” Ganacarczyk said.

As the presentation continued, students were asked to answer questions related to Title IX. These questions revolved around sexual harassment. For two of the questions, it asked the students what they think the percentages are for both seventh to twelfth grade boys and girls who have experienced sexual harassment.

School psychologist Mary Leonardo and other psychologists at West came up with the questions asked.

“We wanted to illustrate to students that sexual harassment and assault is a real issue that impacts a large number of students. We also wanted our students to see that they weren’t alone if they didn’t know what Title IX was. We wanted to engage students in the presentation,” Leonardo said.

To end the presentation, Assistant Principal of Student Services, Antwan Babakhani, talked about how important it is for students to know and to understand Title IX.

“One, I hope that the students now understand what the law is. Two, they have a right, a legal right, to feel like they can access their education. And three, what happens in the process. If you are a violator, or if you are someone begin affected. So overall, what do those look like regarding process, communication, and investigations,” Babakhani said.

Niles West will be having this assembly yearly now to make sure students are updated on all the information.